I'm not a huge fan of fruit leathers, but this turned out super good! And, really, you can't go wrong with blackberries, mint and rum.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Hang 'em Dry Challenge

Air or line drying laundry is something that many of us still find challenging, particularly when the convenience of a dryer is mere inches away from the washing machine. In many western countries, few people use a dryer and will air dry year round, regardless of outside temperatures and in spite of a lack of indoor space. They get creative, using indoor racks, and hangers, shower space and whatever nooks and crannies they can find. The excuses we use in the United States just don't fly in other areas of the world.

How do we get over our addiction to drying machines and stop using excuses when, if you get down to it, are really just excuses and not real justifications? What is the real savings, both from a monetary standpoint and a carbon emissions one? One thing I love about air drying laundry is that, after some initial investment in racks or lines, it's free.

Why bother?Here are some of the benefits (depending on how much laundry you do and whether or not you have to pay coin-operated machines):

You save $150 or more per year in energy costs or coins

You reduce your carbon emissions by about a thousand pounds or more

You create less wear and tear on your clothes

Air drying eliminates static cling

If you dry outside, the UV light from the sun can help disinfect clothing

The ChallengeThe Hang 'em Dry Challenge is a challenge to get you to line dry all of your laundry for the month of October. Preferably, you'll air dry all of your laundry and not use your dryer at all, but, since it's October (and might be moist in your area), if you need to finish off drying a load, that is allowed as long as it doesn't take more than 15 minutes to finish drying it.

GiveawaysAs part of this challenge, I'll be doing some fun giveaways, including an indoor and a tripod laundry rack, so keep your eyes peeled for that!

PledgeIf you are interested in signing up for this challenge, add your name to the comments of this post. You have a few weeks to get yourselves prepared, but if you don't want to spend much money, invest in an inexpensive clothesline and some clothespins and it shouldn't set you back more than $10.

Help promote!If you want to put the challenge badge on your blog to help encourage people to start line drying their clothes, just use the following code:

111 comments:

Since you're giving me a few weeks to get ready for it, I'll do it. I'm still WAY behind on laundry, but now that I'm staying home with the kids I'm getting caught up. I believe that with regular weekly laundry, there's no reason I shouldn't be able to do this.

I already do this. Have been since February. The only things that don't get line dried are the sheets and my husbands clothes minus his tshirts, he always hangs them to dry so they don't shrink on him. I live in an apartment and don't have the space to line dry large sheets and my husband doesn't have the patience to not use the dryer.

I'm in, but then I already hang my clothes out. I do fluff them in the dryer for 2-3 minutes to get out the wrinkles/stiffness, but then it all goes outside. I have 2 clothes racks for the smaller stuff, then the shirts and pants get hung on hangers and hung off the spokes of my patio umbrella or around on the deck.

In the winter I hang the stuff inside, in front of the heat vents as much as possible - both for faster drying and for humidifying the air. Win-win.

I'm offering moral support as I already do it (no dryer) and I'm in the UK, so a bit too far to send an airer.

For those with no line space for big sheets, try hanging them over internal doors. We dry kingsized fitted sheets, duvet covers and fleece blankets like this all winter. They dry surprisingly fast, add humidity to the air and can be whisked away if you have visitors you'd like to impress :0)

I'll pledge to do all my clothes... I already do almost all of them. But I have to at least partially dryer-dry the sheets & towels; the drying rack I have can't take the weight of soaking wet towels and the sheets are just too unwieldy.

We've been doing this for years =) But I pledge to attempt to get our former foster daughter more into it. She came over and hung her wash one day and couldn't believe how awesome they felt!! I hope to encourage her to do that every time. So I guess I'm saying I'm in, but I'll raise you by trying to convert others!

I'm in. Typically I line dry most of my clothing, however, in the alst few months I've been getting lazy and using the dryer a lot. This challenge will be good and get me back on track with line drying all of the time.

Sounds great. I used to line dry all the time, but now with two youngsters I use the dryer way more than I should. With one baby in cloth diapers who is also a happy spitter, a messy toddler who still wets the bed sometimes, plus a mechanic husband, I do a lot more laundry than most people I know, and definitely can't always fit it all on my line, but I will join the challenge and do as much as I can!

I already do this. I haven't owned a dryer for 2 1/2 years, and it takes a minor emergency (it's been raining 2 weeks and we're out of underwear, etc.) for me to want to haul my wet clothes into town to the coin-op laundry. Clothes freeze-dry just fine.

I would love to join in. But alas I have been hanging all of our stuff for the last 10 years. When we moved into our home we had a electric dryer and the house had a gas line. We always intended on getting the electric run, you know when we had the money. But it just never seemed important enough to do. We still have the dryer it sits next to the washer. I think I keep it now just so the monsters know what a dryer looks like.... LOL! In the summer we hang outside and I have 4 lines in the basement for the winter. I use homemade laundry soap or an eco one when I'm lazy. And we always use vinegar for the rinse.

This is just what I need... a swift kick in the arse to attempt to hang dry during the damp seasons. Heat in our home doesn't kick on 'til 58, and our garage is not any warmer... so I'm not sure how I'll do - last time I tried drying inside - I ended up having to re-wash and dryer dry 'cause things just didn't dry, and ended up starting to get that left-in-the-washer-all-day-on-a-hot-summer-day smell.... :-(

I've just started line drying to help cut back on the electric bill, so I'm sure up for this. I am a die hard dryer junkie. I just never thought I would have the time to hang everything out. Finding it to be relaxing. I'm going to put up a few more lines so I can dry more than one load at a time and I'll be set to go. Hoping I can stick with it. Socks and undies are gonna be hardest!

I already do this during the summer/fall but tend to go back to the drier in the winter. Does anyone have tips so the clothes don't get too wrinkly? I tend to line dry my clothes since I have to iron anyway, but feel bad making my son go to school with wrinkles in his clothes (not that he cares).

I'm in. We have a dryer, but don't really use it except for emergencies. (like if we needed to wash and dry something quickly. Hasn't heppened yet this year.)I especially love how sheets smell when they come in off the line. We have king-sized sheets and an umbrella-type clothesline, so we have to fold the sheets in half before hanging them. They still dry just fine. I really like hanging the clothes out and watching them blowing in the breeze. One of the things I look forward to each week.

Like so many of your commenters I have always been a line dryer anyway so it's not really a challenge for me, I guess. Outdoor line in spring/summer/fall. Indoor racks in winter. Don't even "fluff" towels - love the roughness.

I definetely like to do this in summer, but find it challenging most of the rest of the year due to Pacific NW weather. The woodstove and an indoor wooden rack make this easier. Oh, and having a high efficiency washing machine that wrings out most of the water.

The best way to become an outdoor line user is to have a broken dryer. Ours broke at the beginning of the summer and I insisted that we NOT get it fixed. Not having a choice is sometimes the only way to make it happen. (I plan to string up an indoor laundry line for winter.)

I too already do this 365. (With cloth diapered baby too)We don't currently own a drier. This will be our first long winter without it though, we might resort to occasional trips to the laundry mat for drying jeans and sweatshirts. We'll just have to see how it goes.

Count me in! I already line dry clothing and towels, but since I'm about to get all the winter blankets out of storage and wash them, my challenge will be to find a way to air/line-dry them indoors ... monsoon season has begun, so this should be ... interesting. :-)

It almost seems like cheating to sign up for this, since my children asked me recently, "Mommy, why do we even own a dryer?"

I use outdoor lines in clement weather, and 6 lines in the basement during the winter. The indoor drying has also alleviated the very low humidity we used to suffer in winter - the dogs appreciate that, too!

Ha! My dryer has been broken for about four months now. It needs a $12 part and my husband knows how to fix it since this is the third time the same part has died, but we are in no hurry to repair it. I found (translate: dumpster dove for) a retro five-line clothesline reel, circa 1960, which can hold a lot of laundry. On wet days, I dry in the house on hangers in the area above the washer and broken dryer. This challenge will be a breeze for our household!

When I line dry my clothing on hangers indoors (my HOA won't allow it outside) my clothes get more winkled and stiff. I've tried washing my clothes vinegar and/or laundry softener but that doesn't help much. I've tried fluffing stiff towels, etc. in the dryer for 15 minutes which works. However if I set the dial for another 10 minutes my wet laundry is dry without letting it hang all day one load a day at a time. Does anyone have any line drying tips for me?

I started air drying a year ago after moving into an apartment that has a washer but no dryer. Once you get into the habit, it just becomes a non-issue! If you can do it without purchasing anything that's great. But I actually bought a collapsible drying rack (for about $20). With this, plus hangers on the curtain rod, I can easily dry 2 big loads at a time inside my small apartment. You can do it!

I'm in. Sheets and towels are my biggest challenges because I don't have a clothesline or drying rack. Everything else I hang dry about 40% of the time, the rest of the time I use the dryer due to pure laziness. Hopefully this will get me into a better habit.

I'm in!! Hubby & I argue about the aesthetics of a clothes line all the time. I rigged up a discrete line off our walk-out basement door, but I am still given some flack for my "trailer park" practices. Grrrrrr. Now I can tell him its for Crunchy Chicken! hahaha

Ok, I'd love to do this, but need some more line drying savvy advice from you all. I've got a drying rack, check. Live in Seattle so October will most likely bring rain or clouds, that's ok. My question is, we also hardly ever turn the heat on, just bundle up. So when I tried this last year I found it not only took days to dry a single load, but caused moisture problems in the house. Now since then we've taken care of a few ventilation issues in the attic, which should help with some of that. But I feel like I need a drying rack tutorial or something. Help!

I'm in- I just got a clothesline a couple weeks ago and having been hanging clothes outside for the first time since I went off to college over 20 years ago. We'll see how dedicated I am to keep it up as the weather cools off here in New England.

I'm in. I am already an avid line dryer. We only use our clothes dryer about 4 to 6x a year, usually it is when I have a pile of peed in or puked in sheets/bedding that I have to get washed and dried in a hurry (damn kids! ;) )

For anyone who is asking about drying in damp conditions. I know this isn't really that great because you are still using electricity. But hang your stuff in the bathroom with the fan on. Our apartment gets so humid the windows get like half an inch of ice build up anthem and our clothes don't dry, we started doing this and it solved both problems. So you're really just using the fan that's already on :)

Annother idea(we do all our drying inthe bathroom in the winter) put a second showed curtain rod up over the middle ofthe tub(up high so you don't hit your head when you shower) and you can hang clothes on hangers on there, works a dream. Best idea I have ever come across.

When we moved in the summer of 2009, we opted to not get a dryer. We've been without one for 15 months now, and I can't imagine ever owning one again. Between my clothesline and a few drying racks, there's no need for a dryer at all. We have a toddler in cloth diapers, and his diapers have never been dried in a dryer. I think that may be part of why they're still in such good shape after 2+ years.

I just started doing this-- I don't know how well it'll work out when the weather starts to get colder.

For me, the incentive is that the laundry room in my apartment building is ill-tempered and eats my money!

By the way, Act Bolder has a challenge going right now that gets you 40% off an order of organic underwear from PACT if you line-dry a load of laundry. I'm not sure how I feel about Act Bolder in general, since it's incentivizing actions with stuff, but this particular challenge meshes pretty well with Crunchy's challenge!

Like Q, we already dry out clothes outside or inside on racks, depending on the weather. A great challenge though and, since it takes about 30 days to create a habit, I see lots of savings happening in October and on.

I am in too! I started this challage for myself at the begining of the summer...I have only used the drier 2 times, because of the weather and I needed the clothes! But I am going to use the weather.com idea you blogged about and no drier this October at all!

The dryer was calling me this morning. "You know I'm faster... You know you have too much to do...." all in the creepy ghost voice... Okay, so I'm not 100% crazy, but I just said NO and hung the stuff outside. Glad I did too, so neat to see it out my bedroom window blowing in the breeze, and thanks for the weather.com link! I use that all the time just to check, but never thought to use it to plan my laundry days!

Entering the contest would be cheating, much as I'd love to win a drying rack. I sold my washer dryer pair last fall and replaced it with a second hand energy efficient front loader. No dryer means I dry all my clothes on the line...rain or shine...though when it rains, the house ends up with lots of laundry hung in doorways and draped over furniture. :P

I love that you are doing this challenge! If more people learn how easy it really is to line dry (and how great the clothing smells when they do) we can together save a lot of energy. :D

I have been line drying 90% of our laundry for over a decade. The house we have has conduit piping in it, which is sturdy enough to hold lots of wet clothes on hangers. I don't dry clothes outside (because I don't have a place to put a line). We do dry Towels, sheets and blankets, although I would love to get away from drying all those, DH thinks line dried towels are to rough.

I'm in- we fell out of line drying this summer as my husband was replacing a wall of our bedroom (and using our clothesline area as an impromptu workshop). Happy to have motivation to get back in the swing of things!

Okay, I just cemented in the post holder for our clothesline so we are in for the challenge! Thanks for giving me a little more motivation to get the clothesline up! I can't wait to start line drying clothes again!

unless you have a really efficient, 1200rpm or better washer, you will probably get up to a cup of extra water out of your wet clothes by using the spin cycle a second time. that might help with the humidity problem and the slow dry one.we fluff things like towels for a few minutes in the dryer before hanging them. seems to work better than trying to un-stiffen them after they are line dried.

Any tips for apartment dwellers? I'm not allowed to use my [tiny] balcony for something as unsightly as drying clothes. I can hang things from the shower rack in my bathroom, but that doesn't get much fresh air... neither do most rooms in my apartment, to be honest!

Okay, I'll give it a go here. My reason for not drying clothes outside is seasonal allergies. I'm not sure my family and I will be able to tolerate the pollen but since I haven't line dried our laundry for years it would be good to try again. Besides I could try hanging everything inside if we have problems. Glad I have a few days to go get some clothesline.

I also hang to dry, and I'm wondering why you started this challenge in October and not in July. Over the summer, it was so hot, I could often get two loads dry per day.

My dryer is actually broken now though and I wish I had it for a couple of days. It's been raining for days and my stuff just does not dry well in the house, then it smells musty and needs to be rewashed. Which completely is against the point.

Love air drying, but find I need to do laundry everyday to accommodate my lg families lg. Laundry loads. I am willing to sign on for the challenge. ANY hints from other lg families welcome. Ps brings back memories of growing up. My job was to unhang the laundry :)

I am in. I air dried clothes for a month and My electric bill was so much lower. I was shocked! My problem is that the kids are allergic to everything, and HOA doesn't allow us to put a clothes line in the backyard. Well, I can still do it in the garage or inside the house. Count me in everyone. We need to save our planet for our kids!!!!!

Wow, I'm jumping in on this at the last minute. But I'm in. It's about time I gave our 22 year old dryer a vacation. I have three kids and I cloth diaper the youngest, so that's a lot of laundry. But I'm going to do my best to hang even the diapers, with maybe a no heat fluff at the end so her nappies aren't crunchy.

Been hanging clothes every load for almost 7 years now. There is no room for a dryer, and all our friends think we're crazy for having to put in so much more effort, but we think it's great!! So what if it's inconvenient? Lot's of the mot rewarding things in life are not the most convenient. We have a pop up rack by the woodstove, and a great line hung in the attic. The smell of cloths drying by the woodstove during a snow storm smell Oh So Good! :)

Seriously, does anyone have a solution for the allergy issue? Houses here are not built with basements, so that's out, and I cannot dry 6 peoples' laundry over the bathroom shower rod. How many tripod racks would I need for that much laundry? Anyone know? I hate running the dryer, but my husband hates going to the ER with allergy-triggered asthma even more.

I have a line in my living room and a wall-mounted wooden drying rack from Robbins Homegoods in the bedroom. I hang large stuff from the line and small stuff on the rack. I enjoy saving money and time at the laundromat. (I also hang clothes to air out after wearing--don't have to wash as often that way.)

Already do it, otherwise I'd join. I haven't bought dryer sheets in 6 years. I have a dryer; I end up using it about once a month. Sun works magic on cloth diapers & kids clothes. Additionally, since my clothes dry in the sun, I do all laundry in cold water (except cloth diapers - they get hot water).

My clothes don't wear out. My sons clothes don't wear out. I have clothes that I've been wearing for half of my life - since I became adult-sized (llbean quality, what can I say?).

I don't have to worry about dryer fires.

I live in central Mass. - not exactly the sun belt. I have to move the line around during the year to maximize sun exposure, but it's so worth it.

Check out PROJECT LAUNDRY LIST - they are working to help eliminate homeowners association rules that prohibit line drying.